Camp Rules! (8 page)
Authors: Nancy Krulik
Katie watched as one by one her friends slipped their sneakers on and took out their flashlights. They were all going bunk hopping. If she didn’t go, Katie would be the only one left.
All alone in the cabin at night? That was just too scary!
Katie leaped out of bed and grabbed her flashlight. “Wait up!” she whispered hoarsely.
“Now be really quiet,” Alicia told them as she slowly opened the door and tiptoed down the cabin steps.
The girls all followed Alicia as she slipped behind the bunk, taking care to stay out of sight of the on-duty counselors, who were sitting at a picnic table near a tree.
“Where are we going?” Chelsea asked.
Alicia put her fingers to her lips and glared at her.
No one said a word after that.
Katie looked up at the night sky. She’d never seen so many stars before. And they were all so bright and shiny. Katie had to admit it was kind of cool being out so late at night. The danger of sneaking around was a little thrilling. Katie had never done anything like this before!
The camp was quiet, except for the sounds of the crickets chirping and the occasional whisper or giggle from one of the on-duty counselors.
Crack
. Just then, a twig snapped beneath Katie’s feet.
. Just then, a twig snapped beneath Katie’s feet.
“Shhh . . .” Alicia hissed.
“I . . .” Katie was about to say she was sorry, but she stopped herself. It was better to keep quiet.
The girls continued to follow Alicia. They snuck between the Stingray and Sea Horse bunks, across the athletic field, and behind the mess hall. Alicia finally stopped when they reached the nature shack. She looked around to make sure no one was around. Then she opened the door of the shack and walked inside.
“What are we doing here?” Rainbow whispered.
“I thought we’d play a little joke on Shannon,” Alicia told her.
“Why would we do that?” Gianna wondered.
“Because she was so mean,” Alicia said. “I had to miss the campfire, remember?”
“But she wasn’t mean to the rest of us,” Chelsea pointed out.
“Oh, come on, you guys, it’s just a joke,” Alicia told them. “I’m just gonna put a lizard in her bed. I want to see how scared she gets.”
“That’s not a nice thing to do—to Shannon or the lizard,” Katie said.
“Don’t be such babies,” Alicia snarled.
“Stop calling us that!” Katie shouted back.
Alicia shrugged and walked over to the lizard cage. Slowly she removed the lid. Then she reached her hand into the cage and . . .
Flick!
Just then the lights went on in the nature shack.
Just then the lights went on in the nature shack.
Katie gulped. This was sooo not good.
Chapter 14
“I am really upset!” Shannon shouted after the girls returned to the bunk. The nature counselor was very angry, too. “I can’t believe my girls went bunk hopping!”
Katie bit her lip. She didn’t know what to say. The last thing she ever wanted to do was disappoint her counselor.
“We’re sorry,” Gianna said quietly.
“We just wanted to see what it felt like,” Rainbow added.
“All the bigger girls do it, so . . .” Chelsea added.
“Who told you that?” Shannon asked.
No one said a word.
Shannon nodded quietly. “Well, since you girls like wandering around camp when no one else is around, I guess I should let you do that.”
Katie looked at her counselor with surprise. Was she really going to say it was okay for them to go bunk hopping?
No such luck.
“Tomorrow morning you’re all going to get up extra early,” Shannon told them. “And then you’re going to walk around the whole camp, singing. It will be your job to wake everyone else in the camp in time for breakfast.”
“We have to get up early?” Chelsea exclaimed.
Shannon nodded. “And be ready to sing.”
“In front of everyone?” Katie asked nervously. Somehow she didn’t think she could do that.
“Oh yeah,” Shannon told her. “And loudly, too. Remember, you have to get everyone up. So I guess that means you girls will want to climb into your beds and go to sleep now.”
The girls all did as they were told.
After Shannon shut off the light, Alicia began to grumble. “I told you we should have put that lizard in her bed.”
Katie folded her pillow over her ears so she couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t going to listen to anything Alicia said. Not for the rest of the summer!
“It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning!” the Bumblebees sang out as they trudged through camp from cabin to cabin.
“Ahhh, be quiet!” someone yelled from the Sharks’ bunk.
But the Bumblebees couldn’t be quiet. They had to sing. And loud.
“It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up . . .”
“I hate Bumblebees!” someone in the Stingray bunk screamed through the cabin window.
Katie frowned. She didn’t like it when people were mad at her. And from the sound of things, the whole camp was pretty angry with the Bumblebees today. Nobody at camp liked getting out of bed in the morning. Getting woken up by a bunch of girls singing—
off-key
—was making it that much worse.
off-key
—was making it that much worse.
But by the time everyone got to breakfast, it seemed all had been forgiven. In fact, some of the older girls were laughing about what had happened.
“Don’t feel so bad,” Lexi told her. “We’ve all had to do that.”
“Yeah,” another girl from Lexi’s cabin said. “And I didn’t go bunk hopping until I was a Sea Horse. I think you guys are the first Bumblebees to ever have the guts to sneak out at night.”
“Pretty impressive,” Lexi agreed.
“Gee, thanks . . .” Katie said proudly.
“But you’d better not do it again,” Lexi warned. “The next punishment will probably be even worse.”
Katie was surprised. “Worse than having to sing in front of the whole camp?” she asked.
“Oh yeah. You don’t want to be left out of Color War,” Lexi’s friend told her. “And that’s what they would probably do.”
That settled it. From now on, Katie was staying put after lights-out. Her bunk-hopping days were over.
Chapter 15
Alicia, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care what she was going to miss. That night Katie and the rest of the girls lay in their beds, trying to be good. But Alicia hopped out of hers and grabbed her flashlight.
“You’re not going bunk hopping again, are you?” Katie asked her nervously. “You might miss Color War.”
“Big deal,” Alicia answered. “So I might miss a bunch of stupid relay races and singing.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Gianna told Katie. “Color War is totally awesome. It’s the most exciting part of camp!”
“Anyhow, I’m not leaving the cabin,” Alicia said. “I’m just going to remake Shannon’s bed for her.”
“Why?” Rainbow asked. “It looks pretty neat. Besides, she’s just going to get into bed in an hour or two and unmake it.”
“Exactly,” Alicia said with a big smile. “Only she’s going to have a tough time doing that, because I’m short-sheeting it.”
“Alicia, that’s not nice,” Gianna warned.
“What’s short-sheeting?” Chelsea asked.
“Alicia’s going to fold over the top sheet so it looks normal,” Gianna explained.
“Yeah,” Alicia agreed. “But when she tries to climb in, she won’t be able to. Pretty funny, huh?”
“Come on, Alicia, go back to bed,” Gianna said.
“No way,” Alicia replied.
There was no stopping Alicia when she had her mind made up. Katie picked up her flashlight and one of the comic books her grandmother had sent her in a package. She read for a while and then fell asleep.
Katie didn’t know how long she’d been sleeping when she heard a rustling coming from the far end of the bunk.
She sat up suddenly. Had Rocky come back to visit?
No. That wasn’t it. As she squinted in the darkness, she could hear Shannon struggling.
“Darn it,” the counselor muttered as she stood up and pulled the blankets and sheets from her mattress and started to remake her bed. “AAAH!” she shouted out suddenly.
Her scream woke up the whole cabin.
“What’s wrong?” Rainbow cried out.
Shannon ripped her sheets from her bed. “Someone put worms in my bed!”
“Ooh, worms. Gross,” Chelsea gulped.
“I’ve got to shake these sheets out,” Shannon said as she opened the cabin door.
A few giggles came from Alicia’s bed. Alicia had her pillow over her mouth to muffle the sound, but Katie could still hear her.
“How come you’re never nice, Alicia?” Katie whispered loudly.
Alicia just laughed.
But she wasn’t laughing the next morning. As soon as the Bumblebees had woken up and gotten dressed, Shannon said, “You know what, girls? I found out last night that Alicia has a special talent. She is a wonderful bed maker. And to prove it, she’s going to make every one of your beds today.”
Alicia gasped. “I’m what?”
“You’re going to make all the beds in the bunk,” Shannon told her. “But not the way you made mine last night. You’re going to make the beds the right way.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alicia lied.
“Alicia, I know you short-sheeted my bed,” Shannon said. “And you put the worms in there, too.”
Katie bit her lip. She thought she had been whispering pretty quietly. She hadn’t meant for Shannon to hear her say anything.
“Tattletale,” Alicia hissed as she walked over to Katie’s bed and began to straighten the covers.
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